The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom likely won't be the last open-world Zelda game, according to the game's producer. While nothing is confirmed, producer Eiji Aonuma's recent interview opens the door for more open-world Zelda games after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo launched Tears of the Kingdom on May 12. The game continues the story of Breath of the Wild and sees this iteration of Link finally facing Ganon in his humanoid incarnation. In addition to sharing Breath of the Wild's setting and characters, it also features many similar gameplay mechanics. However, this hasn't stopped The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom from introducing several new systems. These include but are not limited to weapon customization and the game's famous Ultrahand building vehicle construction system.
Despite representing a new style of Zelda games, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom had plenty of franchise veterans working on them. These include Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma, who directed Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. Recently, Aonuma spoke to Game Informer about Tears of the Kingdoms' development and the franchise's future. During the interview, he describes how Breath of the Wild started a new generation of Zelda games, like how 1998's Ocarina of Time transitioned the series from 2D to 3D.
In response to a question from the interviewer, Aonuma explained how The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time established the format that the subsequent games would follow. While later games would expand upon the structure and experiment with new ideas, the fundamentals largely remained the same. However, he feels that this formant had gotten too restrictive and that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom offer a new format allowing for greater player freedom. "I think it's correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from," said Aonuma.
His comment is not a confirmation of another Breath of the Wild sequel, nor is it an official confirmation that Nintendo will release more open-world Zelda games. However, it seems likely Aonuma is satisfied with the open-world format and sees it as the future of the Legend of Zelda franchise. Also, while Aonuma is hardly the franchise's sole decision-maker, it seems unlikely that he would speak with so much confidence if more open-world Zelda games weren't on the table.
Ultimately, the franchise's future will largely depend on how much faith Nintendo has in open-world games. However, with the positive reception of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, a new open-world Zelda game seems likely.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out now for the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Game Informer